Okay, so we kind of wish she was wearing a “Marriage is so Gay” t-shirt, but we still appreciate Hillary Clinton‘s Pride Month video.

“We will not rest until full and equal rights are a reality for everyone. History proves that the march toward equality and justice will overcome barriers of intolerance and discrimination. But it requires a concerted effort from all of us. No matter how long the road ahead, I’m confident that we will travel it successfully together.”

I know this is only a good thing and should rightly be a cause for celebration, but I have to say I don’t think it’s her or any of these politicians we should be applauding here or celebrating (yes, vote for her and her party, by all means) – it’s us, the people on the ground, and most of all the people who have fought very hard over the last half century to gradually change the perceptions of the public at large and to make the world a better and safer place for people like me to come out in.
Let’s be completely honest here: change has come from the ground up. It’s our out forebears who have led the way on this. The cultural shifts we’ve seen over the last two or three decades and the increase in the amount of gay people coming out has all been possible because of the hard work and sacrifice of gay people on the ground, as it were – these changes have certainly not come from above.
It’s great that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, for instance, is no more; but I can’t help feeling that politicians of all stripes just sat on their hands and waited for “us” to do all the hard work in changing the cultural and social attitudes towards gay people and then when they realised it was no longer political suicide to support us, they jumped on the band-wagon.
So yes, this and recent public support from Obama and so on is a cause for celebration, but it’s the gay people who sacrificed so much and every gay person who’s ever come out and changed the social landscape, as it were, that we should be applauding and celebrating – not politicians. :)

Jun 13, 2012 at 6:39 am · @Reply ·

CollegeGuy

Not that I don’t appreciate her support, because I appreciate all support, but isn’t this a little hypocritical considering she doesn’t support marriage equality? Her husband and daughter do, but she does not if I remember correctly.

I appreciate her support but feel it lacks any real conviction. What is so wrong with either agreeing or disagreeing! Politicians are so hung up about votes they won’t say what they really mean or feel about issues – with in turn confuse the rest of us Plebs!#
Pen x

Jun 13, 2012 at 8:08 am · @Reply ·

Stupid

“And I’d like to confirm that no gays were harmed or even involved in the styling of this look.”

Jun 13, 2012 at 9:33 am · @Reply ·

you gon hate me now

Wow, you bunch of ungrateful queens ! Has any secretary of State done a Pride Month video before ??? I don’t think so ! You guys need to open your eyes, if you think that waving your Pride Flag is what’s been making a difference you are very mistaken. We won’t get marriage equality without the help of people like Hillary. Just look at other countries where gay marriage is legal…. it wasn’t because of forebears ! It was because of people in power. Go ahead hate on me.

Jun 13, 2012 at 10:00 am · @Reply ·

Lefty

@you gon hate me now: I don’t hate you. I do slightly pity people who think marriage equality is the end of gay rights, like it’s the only thing or even the biggest thing we’re fighting for. There’s far more gay people in the world who don’t want to get married than there are those who do. Marriage equality is an important hurdle, but it’s by no means the most important thing we’ve been fighting for. Not by a long shot.
And we owe gratitude to no one but our gay forebears – we’ve fought and won most of the battles ourselves, it seems to me. If Hilary truly believes in what is right, why should we be grateful for that? To say we owe gratitude for someone doing what is clearly the right thing seems a little odd to me – it’s kind of a submissive point-of-view.

Oh my god YAWNSVILLE to you and your ilk. Gay marriage is not the end of the fight for equality, but it’s a big step. And spare me the nonsense about our gay “forebears”; most of those forebears were barebacking with impunity during the AIDS epidemic and equating bath houses with “equal rights” while public health commissions were begging gay leaders to advocate closing them down.

This is a big fucking deal that our leaders are showing support. God. I’m a liberal, but some of you socialists just can’t be happy with any kind of progress if it’s not exactly how you envisioned it. Grow the hell up. What, are you in college? Did your teacher tell you that was a good path of reasoning. Shut the fuck up.

Jun 13, 2012 at 10:39 am · @Reply ·

oh lordy

@Lefty: Oh my god YAWNSVILLE to you and your ilk. Gay marriage is not the end of the fight for equality, but it’s a big step. And spare me the nonsense about our gay “forebears”; most of those forebears were barebacking with impunity during the AIDS epidemic and equating bath houses with “equal rights” while public health commissions were begging gay leaders to advocate closing them down.

This is a big fucking deal that our leaders are showing support. God. I’m a liberal, but some of you socialists just can’t be happy with any kind of progress if it’s not exactly how you envisioned it. Grow the hell up. What, are you in college? Did your teacher tell you that was a good path of reasoning. Shut the fuck up.

Jun 13, 2012 at 10:41 am · @Reply ·

J Stratford

Gratitude is not submission.

Gratefulness is thankfulness. I thank people for saying nice things to me even if they are supposed to do that.

You guys should judge people with their actions, not just their words. Hillary has been very instrumental in moving gay rights in the US and around the world – and not just marriage rights either. If she needs to be in a gray area about marriage equality to do her job in the world where many of her counterparts would kill a gay man for being gay, a woman for showing her face, I say let her! She has achieved so much so far, she has been a constant reminder that we have powerful straight allies out there.

Sure the old gays who started this whole thing also deserve our thanks – the flaming gays who most gays on Queerty now deride for being too gay.

But there’s 10% of us, 90% of them. We need them on our side. We can not do this by ourselves. Dont be a fool.

Jun 13, 2012 at 12:44 pm · @Reply ·

Jay Squires

Lefty: Amen brother. (both posts)

Jun 13, 2012 at 1:12 pm · @Reply ·

Spike

Ah yes, now I remember why HC lost to Barack Obama in the Democrat primary, when she reads off a teleprompter, she is doing just that, reading, you get no impression that she believes or cares about what she is reading. While I don’t doubt her efforts as stated, I have can’t get past the lack of sincerity in both the body language and voice inflections.

Jun 13, 2012 at 3:10 pm · @Reply ·

jason

Oh, go away, Hillary. You are nothing but a creepy woman who pretends to like gay people for the purpose of winning their votes. Your party had a super-majority in Congress but failed to pass any big gay rights legislation during that period.